After the success of this year’s biopic A Complete Unknown, a whole new generation has learned about the lyricism, nasal vocal style and often-frustrating nature of Bob Dylan.
And this month they will get the chance to discover he is also a painter, as the songwriter exhibits a series of original artworks – created with “emotional resonance” – in London.
Dylan, 83, will unveil 97 recent works featuring characters, objects and various scenes at the Halcyon Gallery.
And it seems that he is not only still touring in his 80s, but also painting. The show, Point Blank, is based on original sketches created by Dylan between 2021 and 2022. They depict people playing instruments, couples, sportspeople – along with rooms and places where Dylan spent time.
The drawings were painted over with vivid colours to create “living, breathing entities that have emotional resonance, colours used as weapons and mood setters, a means of storytelling”, Dylan said.
“The idea was not only to observe the human condition, but to throw myself into it with great urgency,” he added.
The studies include a mirror reflecting a set of lips, a saxophonist and a cowboy with a pistol hanging on his belt in front of a rising sun.
Some of the drawings are tangled up as blue, red and neutral monochromatic studies, reminiscent of Pablo Picasso’s early blue period.
The Point Blank series began as a book and includes accompanying prose.
Kate Brown, the creative director at Halcyon, said: “These works on paper feel like memories, intangible windows into the life and imagination of one of the greatest storytellers who ever lived.
“People who attend the exhibition will discover that they provoke stories from our imagination. We consider the circumstances of the protagonists and ponder our movement through the spaces that the artist depicts.”
The Halcyon Gallery previously exhibited Dylan’s series Drawn Blank, which featured graphite drawings made when travelling between Europe, Asia and the US from 1989 to 1992 – and later reworked with paint.
Dylan describes the process of making his work as a way to “relax and refocus a restless mind” during busy tours.
Paul Green, the president and founder of Halcyon, said: “It is nearly 18 years since Halcyon first started working with Bob Dylan and it has been an extraordinary experience to watch this cultural icon develop into such a critically revered and important visual artist so closely.
“This latest body of paintings feels like a more intimate connection to the artist than in any of his previous work and it is a great privilege to share them with the public for the first time.”
The exhibition is free of charge and will open on 9 May.
